Pleasure and Prayer

We read Matthew 14 for our family Bible time this morning, and I noted two things:

First, Herod’s actions were motivated by what pleased him–he was pleased by the dancing of his step-daughter and committed himself to what pleased him (14:6-12). I will commit myself to what pleases me. The character of what pleases me will be seen in my actions.

Second, even though it was the end of a long day, Jesus “went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone” (14:23). The incarnate Son of God (v. 33) spent vast amounts of time alone in prayer. Focused, concentrated prayer is an essential aspect of my relationship with the Father. How does my schedule show that?

Jehoshaphat

2 Chronicles 17-20 relates the reign of King Jehoshaphat over the Southern Kingdom. He was a godly king who sought the Lord and did much to encourage the people he led to also seek the Lord. You will do well by carefully reading this account to learn what is involved in seeking the Lord.

When Jehoshaphat and his country came under attack by overwhelming foes (20:1-2), his response and action of seeking the Lord’s help (20:3-13; unlike his father Asa, cf. 16:1-10) and praising God on the basis of His promises in spite of the circumstance (20:18-21) provide believers today with an excellent model to imitate and follow. Live by faith, not by sight!

Sadly, Jehoshaphat established alliances with the wicked King Ahab of the Northern Kingdom (18:1-34) and later with Ahaziah (20:35), thus soiling his testimony and endangering those he was responsible to lead.

Perhaps the thing that began such compromise was a failure in his own personal life–a marriage alliance with King Ahab’s daughter (18:1). It is a tragic fact that failures in personal separation often and if persisted in can inevitably lead to failures in more formal aspects of separation. 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 is a passage that we must believe and practice–”Do not be bound together with unbelievers…“

Maybe Jehoshaphat committed these actions by saying, “The Bible doesn’t say that I can’t do this specific action; it only says that I can’t make alliances with ungodly nations. Sure we have differences with the Northern Kingdom, but after all, they are our flesh and blood.” This rationalizing happens too often today with those who, under the guise of “sticking to the Bible,” say that because Scripture does not specifically address something they have the right to pursue that course of action.

If this was the case, it didn’t excuse anything. In fact, it demonstrated a failure of wisdom on Jehoshaphat’s part–

Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord and so bring wrath on yourself from the Lord? (19:2)

Let’s beware of compromising our testimony by either a willful “turning the other way” or real blind spots in our lives. Let’s strive to be wise in every area of life, bringing each part into full compliance with seeking the Lord.

Isaiah 6

I’ll be teaching from Isaiah 6 tonight and found the following comments from one of my favorites, Matthew Henry, helpful and challenging–

Those who are to teach others the knowledge of God ought to be well acquainted with him themselves.

If angels be thus reverent in their attendance on God, with what godly fear should we approach his throne!

Power without purity to guide it, would be a terror to mankind. None of all the divine attributes is so celebrated in scripture as this is [v. 3].

Shall walls and posts tremble before God, and shall not we tremble? [v. 4]

The sinfulness of sin is its contrariety to the holy nature of God, and upon that account especially it should appear both hateful and frightful to us. The impurity of our lips ought to be the grief of our souls.

A believing sight of God’s glorious majesty should affect us all with reverence and godly fear.

Those are fittest to be employed for God who are low in their own eyes and are made deeply sensible of their own weakness and unworthiness.

The taking away of sin is necessary to our speaking with confidence and comfort either to God in prayer or from God in preaching; nor are any so fit to display to others the riches and power of gospel-grace as those who have themselves tasted the sweetness and felt the influence of that grace.

We must not say, “I would go if I thought I should have success;” but, “I will go, and leave the success to God. Here am I; send me.”

Genealogy Gem #1

I use Robert Murray McCheyne’s Bible reading guide for my personal Bible reading, and am presently working through the genealogies in 1 Chronicles.

Let’s be honest–we don’t usually think of these passages of Scripture as sources for Christian devotion and encouragement, do we? Yet we need to remember some important things here–

1. They are the result of the Holy Spirit guiding and protecting the human biblical author, with the result being that what they wrote is inspired (2 Tim 3:16a)
2. Because all Scripture is inspired, all of it “is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16b)
3. Because of Scripture’s character and profitability, it has a clear, definite objective–to make believers capable and equipped for good works (2 Tim 3:17)

Soooooooo, how can genealogies help me meet all the demands of life so that I will live in a Christ-honoring way? After all, I have a hard enough time pronouncing the names right much less profiting from them!

What can happen with reading lists of names is you can just start to glide over the verses and before you know it you’re turning pages like a speed-reader–but you’re not reading! Resist that temptation; take the time to work through it; and ask the Lord for help (Ps 119:18).

As I work through this and other genealogies, I’ll post a “gem” that was helpful to me and I trust will be to you as well. Here’s today’s–

They were helped against them, and the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hand; for they cried out to God in the battle, and He answered their prayers because they trusted in Him (1 Chronicles 5:20).

The valiant men of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh warring against their enemies gained help from the Lord to defeat them because they trusted in Him and expressed that trust through prayer.

That’s something that should teach, reprove, correct, and train us to live a righteous life in an unrighteous world!

Always Ready

I heard the mail truck go by and so went out to get the mail. Junk. However, at that moment I noticed two ladies walking toward me–here’s how they looked–

• Dresses
• “Bibles” and colorful literature in hand
• Some sort of large purse or bag

Any guesses?

I’ve done my share of door-to-door work to know what it’s like–the individuals are usually “Oh no, not one of them,” so even though I thought, “Oh no, not Jehovah’s Witnesses” I quickly prayed “Lord, this could be an opportunity to clearly give the gospel to two individuals whose eyes are blinded by Satan. Please help!”

Sure enough, it was a mother-daughter team from the Kingdom Hall in Greene.

I let the daughter go through her initial presentation, and then she asked “the question” designed to elicit a response from me–”Do you know that the Bible has the answers to life’s problems?”

I’ve had lots of conversations with JW’s, from knock-down drag-out discussions with my Greek NT open to John 1:1, to long discussions with the novice (usually the one doing the talking).

So, I decided to implement 1 Peter 3:15 this time:

Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence

Thus, I cut to the chase after her probing question thus–

ME: To be upfront and honest with you, I serve as pastor of Orwell Bible Church.

HER: Oh, great! Do you teach that the only hope for humanity is the Kingdom?

ME: The Bible clearly says that our only hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, relying fully and exclusively in who He is, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead.

HER: Oh, great! Have a nice day!

They obviously didn’t want to continue the conversation. I prayed then for their salvation, and for God to protect my neighbors from their false teaching.

Are we “always ready to make a defense”? To “everyone”? With “gentleness and reverence”?

Problem Here

Okay, I just got another Christian Book Distributor’s catalog, their Christmas Gifts edition. Now, I order a few books from CBD [heh heh], so it’s not all bad. But remember–it’s a business.

Sadly, in order to make a buck they sell a fair amount of trinkets. What I saw on the back of the catalog just made me shake my head though:

“I Believe: The Gospel Masters, 4 CD set by Elvis Presley.”

Here’s the Product Description–”Worship the King of heaven with the king of rock ‘n’ roll! This definitive gospel collection features over 65 favorites from Elvis, including “I Believe”; “Take My Hand, Precious Lord”; “Joshua Fit the Battle”; “How Great Thou Art”; “Down by the Riverside/When the Saints Go Marching In”; “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”; “Bosom of Abraham”; and “Oh, How I Love Jesus.”"

Okay, what’s wrong the start of that description–”Worship the King of heaven with the king of rock ‘n’ roll”?

For some reason, “How Great Thou Art” and “Oh, How I Love Jesus” somehow seem greatly cheapened.

Sad.

Christian Love

During our Sunday afternoon service I shared several (36!) passages of Scripture from the NT that deal with the subject of “Christian Love.” I read many of them as an introduction to a series on this subject that we’ll look at over the next couple of weeks.

I thought I’d list those 36 passages again, giving the text of two that I mentioned were especially important for this series. They call us to grow more and more in our love for Christ and each other. I don’t have any feeling that we’re deficient in this area, but we must continue to show and grow in our love.

John 13:34-35

John 15:13

Rom 12:9-10

Rom 13:8-10

Rom 14:15

1 Cor 8:1

1 Cor 13:1-7

1 Cor 16:14

Gal 5:6

Gal 5:13-14

Gal 5:22

Eph 4:1-3

Eph 4:15-16

Eph 5:2

Phil 1:9-11 “This I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God”

Col 1:4

Col 3:14

1 Thess 1:3

1 Thess 3:12-13 “¹²and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; ¹³so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints”

1 Thess 4:9-10

1 Tim 1:5

1 Tim 6:11

2 Tim 1:7

2 Tim 2:22

Heb 10:24

Heb 13:1

1 Pet 1:22

1 Pet 2:17

1 Pet 4:8

2 Pet 1:7

1 John 2:10

1 John 3:10-11

1 John 3:14-18

1 John 3:23

1 John 4:7-8

1 John 4:11-12

Jonathan’s Faith

Jonathan’s statement in 1 Samuel 14:6 has always been an encouragement:

Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the Lord will work for us, for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.

Jonathan had biblical support for his faith, for God told Israel that one man would put a thousand to flight. Now, keep the historical context of 1 Samuel 14 in view here: Israel’s army numbered about 600 men (14:2), whereas the Philistines’ army had 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen (13:5). No mention is made of just your plain old foot soldier like Israel had!

Jonathan’s faith in God’s promise–one man will defeat a thousand–helped Jonathan to focus on the Lord, not the material circumstances. From Jonathan’s perspective, because the Lord was on their side, their measly 600 men could be used of the Lord to defeat an army of  600,000! So Jonathan by faith was able to look at the 36,000 that the Philistines assembled as a measly number that was no match for the Lord.

In light of what I’ve been teaching during our Wednesday Bible Study (Knowing God), particularly the fact that as God is spirit he is personal, incorporeal (non-material) and invisible, I have a greater theological appreciation for what Jonathan has said here.

God is the infinite and perfect spirit, in whom all things have their source, support, and end. All God had to do was remove his “support” from the Philistines, work on behalf of Israel, and the end result should not be surprising: “the multitude melted away” (14:6), “the commotion in the camp of the Philistines continued and increased” (14:19), “every man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was very great confusion” (14:20), and “the Lord delivered Israel that day” (14:23).

The Philistines, their horses, and chariots were no match for the infinite and perfect Spirit, who is all-powerful and present everywhere. As David would later say,

Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God (Ps 20:7).

Great Preaching Isn’t Enough

Here’s an interesting verse:

When he [Herod] heard him [John the Baptist], he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him. (Mark 6:20)

However, when push came to shove—in this case, saving face before others (v. 26) and indulging his sin nature (v. 22)—Herod rejected God’s Word and messenger. Although he “was very sorry” to have to execute John the Baptist (v. 26), his greater love for self controlled his actions.

Herod “enjoyed” listening to the preaching of the Word rejected God’s message and His messenger (v. 27)—a damning combination.

Merely listening to and enjoying great preaching isn’t enough; we must believe and obey it. Let’s watch our own hearts when we listen to God’s Word!

For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard (Hebrews 4:2)

Strong Women

It’s funny how one thing often leads to another.

Tonight we’ll look briefly at Hebrews 12:9–”Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?” While reading a commentary on this, the author noted,

The strong Christian is the disciplined Christian. ‘Women who are brought up in the country,’ Chrysostom quaintly says, ‘are stronger than men who live in towns.’

I enjoyed that!